A significant proportion of the Structures section research is focused on investigating structural materials and how these behave in both the short and long-term. The traditional materials used in Civil Engineering construction, i.e. concrete and steel (with their variants), are studied in detail. Moreover, the response of modern composite materials also form a significant part of the research activity.
- Concrete Durability
The focus of concrete durability research is on the understanding of deterioration processes and on developing methods for design and whole life assessment.
List of sub-topics within this research area
- Mechanics of concrete materials
- Special steels and polymeric composite materials
- Concrete durability
- Long term behaviour of fibre reinforced cementitious materials
- Creep of concrete at elevated temperature
- Spalling of concrete in fire
- Moisture and heat flow in non-uniformly heated concrete
- Impact and shock resistance of concrete
- Concrete under multiaxial stresses
- High performance concrete, self-compacting and lightweight aggregate concretes
- Strength and ductility of high performance steel
- Structural aspects of stainless steel applications
- Properties of wire and high strength synthetic fibre ropes and strands
- Applications of polymeric composite structures under static and dynamic loads
- Deterioration processes (e.g. reinforcement corrosion, sulphate attack, alkali-silica reaction & freeze-thaw attack)
- Effective methods of design, assessment and repair of concrete structures.
A sample of some recent projects:
- Modelling diffusion and capillary absorption of concrete from three-dimensional mesostructure
- Determining the original water/cement ratio, cement content and degree of hydration of hardened concrete using backscattered electron microscopy
- Predicting permeability of cement-based materials from pore structure
- Influence of air voids on the microstructure and mass transport properties of concrete
- Self-sealing of cracks in cement-based materials using superabsorbent polymers
- Microstructure of corroded steel-concrete interface
- Influence of the interfacial transition zone and microcracking on the mass transport properties of concrete
Find out more on the concrete durability group website.
Contact Structures
Structures
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Skempton Building
Imperial College London
South Kensington Campus
London, SW7 2AZ
Telephone:
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Email: r.bello@imperial.ac.uk
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